


The Lantern and the Beast's Temptation

by orphan_account



Category: Free!
Genre: Implied Death of Character, It's basically the second to last scene of OTGW, Light Angst, M/M, The Unknown, i have no idea how to tag this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-26
Updated: 2015-06-26
Packaged: 2018-04-06 07:43:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4213614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haru, of course, would not turn into an edelwood tree. Not if Rin could save him. But time is short, and the Beast's offer is tempting…</p><p>(Inspired by the second to last scene in Over The Garden Wall. You know, the one where we all cried.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Lantern and the Beast's Temptation

Haru was laying in the centre of the clearing, and even from this distance Rin could see he was shivering. As he ran nearer and as a cry of 'Haru' slipped from his lips, Rin realised something with a jolt. Branches were curling up and around Haru, over his arms and supporting him, tiny green leaves mockingly blooming from the tips. And the branches - they were shaped like a cage, enclosing Haru within their confines.

"Haru!" Rin cried, almost tripping over himself as he rushed to his friend. "Haru, c'mon, say something!" He knelt down in front of Haru, and grasped his friends cheeks, Gou hovering nearby, looking over the trampled snow and broken branches that littered the clearing.

"Rin," she began, "something happened here -"

Haru coughed, and weakly opened his eyes. Never before had Rin been so grateful to see that shade of blue. "Rin? I did it…" he paused and swallowed. "I won against the beast. Need…water…"

"Ah, jeez, he's even thinking like a tree," Gou said, landing on Rin's shoulder.

"No, I just - need to be calm," Haru murmured, closing his eyes. "Sorry, Rin."

"No, no, Haru, I should be the one apologising," Rin said. "I'm the one who got us in this fucking place!"

"Not that…" Haru shook his head. "For taking your sister's Iwatobi-chan keyring. I didn't even know it was her's, but I still shouldn't have taken it." He reached into his pocket and took it out, then pressed it in Rin's hand. "Give it back to Kou for me."

"That doesn't matter right now!" Rin yelled, reaching and trying to break off the little twigs. "You'll give it to her yourself! We just need to get home! And if we don't, then - then who will Makoto be friends with?"

"Makoto…" Haru murmured, then slowly started to struggle, opening his eyes. Then, they widened, as a large thud sound came from behind Rin and Gou. The two turned around, and there, Rei lay still on the ground, alive, bleeding from a wound on the side of his head. From out of the darkness, two round, glowing white eyes and the familiar antlers of the Beast approached.

"Give me my lantern." It's amazing how the deep voice still stroked fear into Rin, after an eternity in the woods.

'The Beast's lantern?'

"No way, we need this thing," Gou almost gabbled, having taken flight and was now just hovering over Rin's shoulder.

"Yeah, I keeping this," Rin said equally as fast, stepping back and holding it close to him. "I need to get Haru back to Makoto."

The Beast tilted its head. "Your companion is too weak to go back," it stated simply, as though asked what two plus two equaled. "He will soon be part of my forest."

"I won't let that happen!" Rin almost snarled.

"Well then," the Beast began, "perhaps we ought to make a deal."

"A deal?"

Rei let out a gasp, jerking his head up. "Don't-"

"I can put his spirit into the lantern," the Beast continued. "As long as the flame stays lit, he will live on inside."

Only now did Rin allow himself to glance back at Haru. He was pale as the snow surrounding him, and he gave almost no signs of life, save for the small clouds that escapes his lips.

"Take on the task of lantern bearer?" the Beast asked. "Or watch your companion perish?"

Rin looked down at the lantern. If Haru's spirit went inside… what would that entail? Would he still go home to Makoto and live his life? Or would he rot away, leaving nought but a consciousness trapped inside, fuelled by a person who would not, could not let go?

"Come here," the Beast stated, holding out a hand.

"…Okay." He had to save Haru. For Makoto.

"Rin!" Gou gasped as Rin stepped forward. He felt uneasy as he stood in front of the Beast. Placing the lantern on the ground, Rin thought back to his questions.

Then snatched the lantern back up.

"That's stupid," he said, stepping back. 

"What!"

"That's stupid," Rin repeated, holding the lantern close to his body. "I'm not going to wonder around these woods for the rest of my life, no matter how much I love Haru." he heard stirring behind him, and weak 'Rin?', but he held firm, raising his head to meet the Beast's eyes.

"I'm trying to help you," the Beast growled, his voice again piercing through Rin.

"You're not trying to help me!" Rin yelled. "You just have some weird thing for keeping this fucking lantern lit!" He brandished it violently, watching the Beast's reaction as the flame spluttered and almost fell. It shrank back almost immediately, but grew taller when the flame settled. Rin narrowed his eyes.

"You're the one who's soul is in the lantern!"

Rei opened his eyes in shock. And then, Rin couldn't see.

Though, in an odd sense, he could. He saw dark, angry colours that ran like blood in water and they jittered, dancing in front of his eyes as light pulled back into the lantern, the only thing he was seeing clearly being the two white eyes of the Beast -

"Are you ready to face true darkness?" it snarled, looming over Rin, and looking like it was about to pounce -

"Are -" Rin paused, straighten his back, and looked up, bringing the lantern close to his face. "Are you?" He opened the small lantern door and took a deep breath.

"Don't - Don't!" the Beast cried, light and Rin's sight returning as its new coloured eyes - blue then yellow then red - went wide and it held out a hand, the silhouette of what appeared to be a cape falling down. Rin sighed and closed the lantern door.

"Pathetic," he muttered, the walked to the staring and trembling Rei. "Here, take this." He dropped the lantern onto the ground. "I've got to get Haru home. So take it. You should be the one to deal with the Beast."

Rei picked up the lantern and stared at in, as though in disbelief. Rin walked back to Haru, picking up the axe from the ground, "Hang in there, buddy," he murmured, taking the axe and, to minimise the risk of hurting his friend, struck the branches from the top so that they were weakened. He used what little strength he had left to pull them off, then carefully slipped Haru onto his back, moving his arms so that they were supporting the surprisingly light teen.

"...Nagisa was never in the lantern, was he?" Rei asked, still staring at the lantern. The Beast crept closer, lurking near Rei.

"Listen to me, Rei," it murmured. "Listen to me…"

"Rin?" Gou piped up, resting on one of the edelwood branches.

"Come with us," Rin said, shifting Haru's weight. "You can play with Nitori. He'd like that."

"I…I can't," Gou admitted, ruffling her feathers as she looked away. "I've got to go home too. Explain to my family that's it's my fault they're crossbills, and why we can't find my brother."

Rin paused, then reached into his shirt, bringing out the pair of bird-shaped scissors. "Here," he said. "Take these."

"What?" Gou almost cried, taking flight and beating her wings fiercely.

"They're the scissors that will make your family human again," Rin said, looking away.

"You had them for how long?!"

"Since me and Haru escaped Sasabe," Rin admitted. "I was kinda pissed at you, so I just took them with me, and, yeah."

"Oh, you -" Gou flew at Rin's face, but landed on his shoulder and gently nuzzled his cheek. "Wonderful mistake of nature!"

"That's what Kou calls me," he murmured, reaching up to pet her.

"You see, Rei?" the Beast asked as the woodsman watched the group. "Every soul that perishes here will become trees for the lantern. That's the way it's always been. Why change that? It's simply logical for it to remain. So cut them with your axe. Now!"

Rei paused. "No!" he yelled, spinning around sharply, light flashing across the Beast's body, disfigured faces carved in wood flashing by in only a second as it recoiled. The lantern door opened under Rei's shaking fingers.

"Stop!" the Beast hissed. "You'll never see your husband again! Do you really want to go back to that house, filled with nothing but insects?!"

Rei looked up, ignoring the tears in his eyes. "The universe," he calmly stated, "is in a constant state of change. So for me to change this world - and for me to start moving on - is simply logical." And then, as he blew out the lantern's final flame, the forest was plunged into darkness and light, for both a moment and forever. Behind him, Rei could hear the bird and the red-haired boy.

"Goodbye, Gou."

"Goodbye, Rin."

**Author's Note:**

> I had no idea what to do with this, so I put it here. Actually kind of proud of it. I want to make a series based on OTGW, but with Rin and Haru and Gou, but an apocalypse au has taken over my head and yeah. Still, I might write more of this one day.


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